The scene that I’m talking about is a scene where where Sir Thomas Moore is being urged by his son in law Roper and by his wife and daughter to arrest a man a scoundrel, really, named Richard Rich. And Moore responds, as
follows, referring to Rich:
“And go he should if he were the devil himself until he broke the law.”
Roper says, “So now you give the devil the benefit of the law.”
And Moore replies, “Yes, what would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the devil?”
Roper replies, yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that.”
Moore responds as follows, and this is the part that I want to talk to you about
:
“Oh? And when the last law was down and the devil turned round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, man’s laws, not God’s, and if you cut them down, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the devil the benefit of the law for my own safety’s sake.”
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